Cats are strange creatures. Now, a team of scientists has developed a psychopathy test for cats collected by the Journal of Research in Personality that will be used to measure the degree of psychopathy your little cat companion has.
These charming housemates can have a dark side. How do you know? Thanks to a recently developed psychopathy test for cats available online to be completed by any cat owner.
Specifically, the cat psychopathy questionnaire measures 46 feline behaviors that can be used to identify the pet in question as a psychopath.
“All cats are likely to have an element of psychopathy,” Rebecca Evans, one of the researchers, said in a statement.
The researchers used the triarchic model of psychopathy , which measures psychopathic tendencies in humans by looking at the characteristics of fearlessness, pettiness, and disinhibition. They interviewed 549 cat owners to determine if their cat displayed those behaviors and, if so, to provide examples, according to the study.
Some questions included: “My cat hides and jumps on people / animals” or “My cat torments its prey instead of immediately killing it” or “My cat shows sudden mood swings.”
The authors concluded that “disinhibition and lack of friendship with pets predicted a higher quality cat-owner relationship ; pettiness and boldness predicted a lower quality relationship.”
According to the authors, the information provided by this questionnaire can help owners better understand their pets and take steps to improve their well-being. For example, a cat with a high score for fearlessness would do well to have tall scratching posts and places where the cat enjoys exploring and climbing.
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Cat psychopathy questionnaire
